The Badgers failed to make winning plays and lost to Xavier, Baylor and UCLA by a combined 17 points. They had the lead late in two of the three games and trailed Baylor by two points down the stretch.

Missed shots, turnovers and defensive lapses have contributed to the losses.

Against Xavier, UW held a 66-64 lead on a basket by Trice with 2 minutes left. Xavier then went on a 12-0 run and won, 80-70.

UW missed seven of its final eight shots.

Against Baylor, UW trailed by 19 points with 11:14 remaining but pulled within 57-55 on a basket by Ethan Happ with 2:15 left.

Khalil Iverson then fouled guard Manu Lecomte, who was attempting a tough three-pointer. Lecomte made all three free throws; Iverson missed a dunk and Lecomte made two more free throws to give the Bears a 62-55 lead with 1:18 left.

UW’s victory hopes died over the course of three possessions and the Bears prevailed, 70-65.

Against UCLA,UW led by nine in the opening minute of the second half on a basket by Happ but the Bruins went on a 24-6 run to build a 55-46 lead with 13:19 left.

UW rallied to take a 65-59 lead with 3:52 left but committed three critical turnovers down the stretch. The Badgers forged a tie but gave up a drive by Aaron Holiday just before the buzzer and suffered a 72-70 defeat.

The final minutes of the loss to Temple played out in a similar fashion.

UW held a 55-52 lead with 3:34 left on Aleem Ford’s basket in the lane.

UW missed its final five shots – three by Happ – and suffered one turnover. That occurred when Iverson made a tremendous effort to poke the ball away but traveled after he dived on the floor to gain control.

“If I make some plays down the stretch we come away with the win,” Happ said. “Being around for two years of playing, I’ve got to be the guy that comes up with the big play on offense and we’ve got to play team defense on the other end. That didn’t happen."

Freshman Brad Davison and Happ committed unnecessary fouls in the second half. Although the Owls made just 2 of 4 free throws after those fouls, two points are critical in a one-possession game.

“We need to make better decisions, too, down the stretch,” Gard said. “And defensively we fouled a couple times unnecessarily that put them at the line.

“Guys played extremely hard but there is a fine line between playing hard and playing smart. We’ve got to continue to get wiser.

“They are learning, but it hasn’t been pleasant. …We’ve had an unbelievable stretch here since mid-November. These guys have had a lot on their plate.”

UW is 0-4 against ranked teams and has six losses before the middle of December for the first time since 2002-’03, Bo Ryan’s first season as head coach. That team was 3-6 after a nine-point loss to Xavier on Dec. 10.

UW assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft was a senior on the 2008-'09 team that lost six consecutive Big Ten games in January, with five of the losses by a combined 19 points. That streak left the team 3-6 in Big Ten play. UW responded by going 7-2 in the second half of league play.

"You’ve just got to stay together," Krabbenhoft said. "You’ve got to trust the people around you. Trust the guy to your left. Trust the guy to your right. Trust your teammates and the coaching staff because they believe in you.

"The coaches have to reaffirm: 'We believe in you. You guys have to trust us and we’ll continue to teach you. Just stay together and believe.' "

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The Marquette coach discusses rivalry games between the state's top two Division I basketball programs. Dave Kallmann